Cycling valve and valving assembly for water softeners

ABSTRACT

A cycling valve for a water treatment system wherein an axially reciprocable stem bearing a pair of sealing lands is adapted to make selective closures among four sets of lip-seals to cycle a water softener through a cycle beginning with service and extending through back-wash, brine, rinse, quick-rinse and return to service. A valving assembly for use in such a valve comprises a support ring that bears a frusto-conical web forming the lipseal which has a circular opening which makes an interference fit with the respective land. Lip-seal elements bearing the lip-seals may be stacked inside a body to form a readily assembled device.

United States Patent Sparling et a1. Oct. 24, 1972 [54] CYCLING VALVEAND VALVING 2,975,799 3/1961 Stilwell ..137/523.3 X ASSEMBLY FOR WATERSOFTENERS 3,018,785 1/1962 Adams et a1. .......137/525.3 X [721 Spam;William. 3233232 Z13 1 "$217372? Dietz, both of Los Angeles, Calif. [73]Assignee: Hersey Products Inc., Los Angeles, FOREIGN PATENTS 0RAPPLICATIONS i 645,277 7/1962 Canada ..625.69/

[22] Filed: June 1970 Primary Examiner-Arnold Rosenthal [21] Appl. No.:47,751 Attorney-Angus and Mon [52] US. Cl. ..l37/625.29, 251/172,251/190, [57] CT 251/324, 277/178 A cycling valve for a water treatmentsystem wherein [51] Int. Cl. ..Fl6k 11/07, F16k 3/24 an ia y r ip a e stm aring a pair of sealing 58 Field at Search ..251/325, 324, 172, 190;lands is adapted to make' Selective closures among 277/152 1 5 17g;37/62529 2559 four sets of lip-seals to cycle a water softener through62548 a cycle beginning with service and extending through back-wash,brine, rinse, quick-rinse and return to ser- [56] References Cited vice.A valving assembly for use in such a valve comprises a support ring thatbears a frusto-conical web UNITED STATES PATENTS forming the lip-sealwhich has a circular opening which makes an interference fit with therespective 2,920,652 l/196O Rudelick etal ..137/625.29 land Lipsealelements bearing the lipseals may be 3,503,377 3/1897 Beatenboughetal.....251/324 stacked inside a body to form a readily assembled3,249,122 5/1966 Fleckenstein et al.137/625.29 device 3,294,120 12/1966Ruchser ..251/31 X 14 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures Pmminumumz Y 3.700.007

SHEET 2 UF 3 v I f RAM/v 7T5PARL/NG,

3 WILLIAM AD/ETZ I INVENTORS.

CYCLING VALVE AND VALVING ASSEMBLY FOR WATER SOFTENERS This inventionrelates to valves for the cycling control of water softeners.

Cycling valves for the control of water softeners are well known. Avalve generally similar in functional purpose is shown in Whitlock etal. US. Pat. No. 3,237,640. The class of valve shown in the Whitlockpatent and the valve described herein is known as a five-cycle valve. Inthe instant valve, the valve assumes four unique positions and performsfive functions.

Such a system customarily includes a water supply line from the watersupply, a service line to the house or other using point, a drain lineto sump or sewer, a regenerator tank with an ejector connected to it forevacuating its contents at one condition and a treatment tank in whichan ion exchange resin is contained and through which the water to besoftened is passed on its way to the service line. The maintenance of asystem of this sort includes the functions of directing the waterthrough the treatment tank to the service line in normal serviceposition, back-washing the bed in the treatment tank by causing reverseflow from the water supply line to the bottom of the treatment tank andout the drain so as to floculate the bed and purge particulateimpurities from it, passing first brine and then clear water through thetreatment tank from top to bottom in order to regenerate and then washthe ion exchange resin, followed by a quick rinse further to purge thesystem of sodium chloride, followedby areturn to the service position.Such cycling is known in the art. It is an object of this invention,however, to provide a readily and inexpensively-manufactured, durableand reliable valve to accomplish the cycling functions.

A cycling valve according to this invention includes a body having analigned primary bore, secondary bore and shaft passage, the primary boreterminating near an end of the body. Within the primary bore there aredisposed four frusto-conical flexible lip-seals which are adaptedvariously to make contact with a pair of sealing lands on an axiallyshiftable selector element so as selectively to direct fluid whichenters the body between various ones of the lip-seals. There is furtherprovided a drain valve in the secondary bore which controls flow offluid to the drain line.

According to a preferred feature of this invention, the lip-seals areformed as part of a lip-seal member that includes a support ring whichcarries perforations in its wall to pass fluid therethrough, an externalflexible seal to make a fluid seal around the same, and a frusto-conicalweb to form the lip-seal. A plurality of identical ones of these membersmay be stacked to form the working parts of the valve.

According to still another preferred feature of this invention, thelands and the lip seal are made of the same material which has a lowcoefficient of friction in water.

The above and other features of this invention will be fully understoodfrom the following'detailed description and the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a side view, partly in axial cutaway crosssection and partlyin schematic notation, showing a valve according to the invention andthe system in which it functions;

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 are cross-sections taken at 2-2, 3' 3, and 4-4respectively of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a partial axial cross-section of a portion of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 6, 7, 8 and 9 are fragmentary axial cross-sections showingthedevice of FIG. 1 in four sequential positions;

FIG. 10 is a cross-section taken at line 10-10 of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary side view of another embodiment of selectorelement useful in .the valve of FIG. 1.

The presently-preferred embodiment of cycling valve 20 according to thisinvention is shown in FIG. 1. It includes a body 21 having aprimary bore22, a secondary bore 23, and a shaft passage 24. These are co-axiallyaligned along axis 25. An end cap 26 is attached to and forms part ofthe body so as to close one end of the primary bore.

The following ports enter through the wall of the body and open into theprimary bore: water supply port 27, service port 28, treatment port 29,ejector port 30, and first return port 31. The following ports passthrough the wall of the body and enter the secondary bore opening on theinternal wall thereof; second return port 32 and drain port ,33..Supplyport 27 is adapted to be connected to the water supply line, and

service port 28 is adapted to be connected to the house line. Drain port33 isadapted to be connected to a sump or sewer. Conduit 34 directlyinterconnects treatment port 29 to treatment tank 35. This tankcustomarily contains a bed of ion exchange resin and filtering material(not shown) in accordance with conventional water softener operation.

Conduit 34 is connected to top opening 36 which enters the treatmenttank at its top, ie., above the treatment material. Conduit 37 connectsejector port 30 to the top opening 36 via an ejector 38. The inlet ofejector 38 is connected by conduit 39 to the bottom of a regeneratortank 40 in which brine is formed and from which it is latter removed.

Treatment tank 35 has a bottom opening 41 below the bed of treatmentmaterial. Bottom opening 41 is connected by conduit 42 to first returnport 31. Top opening 36 is connected by conduit 43 to second return port32.

A sleeve 45 fits in the primary bore and rests against shoulder 46, theprimary bore thereby being stepped. The sleeve has an eccentric upperflange 49 with a passage 50 therethrough to connect the treatment portto the upper end of the primary bore. Seals 51, 52 seal between thesleeve and the body at this end. Additional seals 53, 54 make seals onopposite sides of ejector port 30, and seals 54 and 55 make seals onopposite sides of supply port 27, while seals 55 and 56 make seals onopposite sides of service port 28.

An internal cylindrical wall 57 is formed throughout the major length ofthe sleeve. It has a base 58 near one end thereof. Perforations 59 areformed through the wall of the sleeve so that water may flow to and fromthe lines and conduits between which respective lipseals function.

Within the internal cylindrical wall 57 there is provided a plurality oflip-seal members 60. There are four of these lip-seal members, namely60, 61, 62 and 63, these being referred to as the first, second, thirdand fourth lip-seals respectively. A preferred but optional feature ofthis invention is that these lip-seal members are identical and they maysimply by stacked in the valve, thereby providing a veryaccurately-dimensioned structure which can be inexpensively made andassembled. Because the lip-seal members are all identical, only member60 is shown and described in detail.

Reference is now made to FIG. for details. This drawing shows a supportring 64 which is annular and which has an external ring groove 65 toreceive an O- ring as will laterbe described. Another recess 66 isformed peripherally around the outside of the support ring, and throughthe base of this recess perforations 67 are formed to pass fluid fromthe outside to the inside of the support ring.

A web 68 forms a lip-seal 69 on the inside of the support ring. The termweb is used herein to mean a structure that is relatively thin comparedto its length, but which still is shape-retentive and stiffly flexible.For example, the free length of the web is about 0.250 inches, thethickness at its lip about 0.010 inches, and the thickness at its baseabout 0.100 inches. As can be seen in the drawings, the web is generallyfrusto-conical and inclined at approximately 45 to the central axis ofthe support ring. It is firmly supported by its integrity with the basering, and tapers gradually to a tip 70 which is somewhat flattened in anaxial direction so as to form a slight cylindrical portion on the tipwith an axial length of about 0.014 inches. The diameter of thiscylindrical portion is somewhat less than that of a land which is to fitinto it so as to form an interference fit.

End faces 71, 72 are formed flat and accurately spaced apart so asproperly to locate the lip and the other parts relative to the body. Itwill now be seen that the four lip-seal members may simply be stackedinto the inside of the insert without any special care, and the partsare accurately placed. Alternatively, it will be noted that one couldhave eliminated the sleeve, but simplicity of design is attained by theuse of it, because identical lip-seal members are more easilyaccommodated with its use.

The functions of seals 73, 74, 75 and 76 generally correspond to thoseof seals 53, 54, 55, and 56. It will now be seen that the various portsand lines have access to the insides of the lip-seal members atrespective points relative to the lip-seals themselves.

In order to accomplish the cycling operation, a first land 80 and asecond land 81 are formed as enlargements on a shaft 82 of a selectormember 83. Between the lands, the diameter of the shaft is smaller thanthat of the lands in order to permit water to flow between them. Theselector member is coaxial with axis 25, is axially reciprocable, andfits in the shaft passage 24, making a sealing fit therein by means ofseal 84. These lands are cylindrical and their outer diameter makes aninterference fit with the lips of the lip-seals. The interference isovercome by the axial thrust of the selector member, the webs beingstiffly flexible. A tight fluidsealing fit readily can be attained withthis construction. This seal is best obtained by the seals pointingtoward the direction of higher pressure, rather than in the oppositedirection, although the opposite arrangement will also provide areasonably good seal. Chamfers 85, 86, 87, and 88 are found on the endsof the lands to aid in the expansion of the lip-seal.

Scallops 89 are formed in the edges of the lands so as to give a meteredor somewhat throttled opening and closing action of the valve ratherthan an abrupt action such as would occur were the ends to be circularand lie in a plane. A drain valve 90 is formed in the secondary bore bymeans of a plurality of slots 91 which extend axially along the shaft.First and second secondary drain seals 92, 93 are placed in thesecondary bore and are axially spaced apart. It will be seen that theslots have an axial length and may provide for a flow as a function ofoverlap of either of these secondary seals. When in contact with thecylindrical part of the shaft, first secondary seal 92 seals againstdirect flow between the primary and the secondary bore.

Convenience in design is provided by a two-piece insert 94 which fitsinto the secondary bore having perforations 95 in its side and anexternal sealing ring 96 seated in a peripheral groove.

The problem of conventional valves of shortened lives of O-ring sealssuch as seals 92 and 93 in valve 90 is in part derived from their beingpunched back into their recesses each time the shaft is moved so thatthe O-ring passes from a position overhanging a groove to one embracingthe shaft. In this device, a peripheral groove is not used. Instead, aplurality of slots is formed, leaving support surfaces 100 (FIG. 10) bywhich the O-rings are supported when they overlay a slot. Then when theselector member is moved, the O- ring simply rides from the supportsurface onto a cylindrical portion of the shaft. The gaps between thesupport surfaces are not large enough to permit sufficient droop of theO-ring into the slot to make pinching a problem.

FIG. 11 shows construction for a selector member which may be usedinstead of and in place of member 83. Only those parts which differ frommember 83 will be shown in detail. Shaft 82 is shown, but its upperportion terminates at two flexible hooks 106, (only one being shown)which pass through the end of a shaft extension 107 so as to hold theextension firmly onto the remainder of the shaft. This enables theextension and remainder of the shaft to be made separately, and providesa less expensive molded selector member. However, the two parts may, ifpreferred, be cast integrally, or joined by cementing or otherwise ifpreferred.

First and second lands 108, 109, identical to lands 80 and 81, areconnected to each other by ribs 110 instead of by a central reducedportion of the shaft. The ribs leave a flow channel between themselves,and the lands extend radially beyond them. The ribs are, in effect, acontinuation of the shaft.

For convenience in disclosure, the lip-seals of the second, third, andfourth lip-seal members are denoted by numbers 111, 112 and 113,respectively, the lip-seal of the first lip seal members 60 beingdenoted by number 69.

The foregoing completes the description of constr uction of the valve.The means to actuate the selector member are of no interest to thisinvention. Such may be a rotary member with a crank arm, or it mayinstead be a linear actuator as preferred. In any event, the function ofthe actuator will be to shift the selector member axially so as to makevarious combinations of contacts between the lip-seals and the lands,and settings of the drain valve so as to secure the design function.

The cycling operation of the valve is shown in FIGS. 6-9. FIG. 6illustrates the service position wherein the first land 80 leaves thefirst and second lip-seals 69 and 111 open and in which the second land81 closes third lip-seal 112 and leaves open lip-seal 113. The flowpattern in this position is from the water supply port 27 through boththe treatment and and ejector ports to the top of the treatment tank,through conduit 42, first return port 31, past lip-seal 113 and outservice port 28. It will be noted that there is also flow throughconduit 37, but because of its parallelism with line 34 (which isgenerally larger than line 37), there will be insufficient velocitythrough the ejector to remove brine from the regenerating tank 40.Alternatively, if desired, a valve may be placed in conduit 39 to exerta further restriction on removal of the brine. In the first position,axial slots 91 are disposed out of communication with the drain port 33so the drain valve is closed.

Position 2 (backwash) is shown in FIG. 7 wherein first land 80 closeslip-seal 111. This also blocks flow past lip-seal 69, while the secondland 81 leaves the third and fourth lip-seals 1 12 and 113 open. Axialslots 91 bridge second secondary drain seal 93 so as to open the drainport to the second return port 32. Now the flow pattern is from watersupply port 27 past lip-seals 112 and 113 (note the simultaneous serviceby-pass directly from port 27 to port 28) out first return port 31 tobottom opening 41, out top opening 36, through conduit 43 to secondreturn port 32, through the drain valve and out drain port 33.

The third position is shown in FIG. 8 (and also in FIG. 1) which is thebrine and rinse portion of the cycle and in this setting the first landcloses lip-seal 69 and leaves open second lip-seal 111. This putssubstantial flow through conduit 37 which will generate sufficientvelocity through the ejector to remove the contents of the regeneratortank and discharge them into top opening 36. Flow passes through thetank to bottom opening 41, through conduit 42 to first return port 31which finds only drain valve 90 open to drain port 33, because the slotsoverlap only first secondary drain seal 92, and lip-seal 113 is closedby land 81. This action continues until the brine is entirely withdrawnfrom the tank and then continues with pure water from the water supplyso long as the selector member remains in this position. The conditionafter the regenerator tank is evacuated is referred to as the rinsecycle. Also at this time there also occurs the bypass flow from watersupply port 27 directly to service port 28 to provide the house withservice of untreated water.

The next setting (position 4) is that of quick rinse which gives agreater flow of water through the treatment tank than in the thirdposition in order to flush out any remaining brine. This condition isshown in FIG. 9 wherein the first land 80 leaves first and second seals69 and 111 open and in which the second land 81 leaves open lip-seal l12 and closes lip-seal 113. Also, in this condition there is the bypassflow from port 27 to port 28 to keep the house supplied with water, butboth ports 29 and 30 are open to flow, which gives an augmented rinseflow. Incidentally, at this condition the regenerator tank can begin torefill. The flow in this position is from ports 29 and 30 to top opening36, out bottom opening 41, through first return port 31, through thedrain valve, and out the drain port.

After the quick rinse, the valve is returned to its first (service)condition.

More will not be said of the properties of the lip-seal members and oftheir matching lands on the selector members. There have been numerousefforts made to build cycling valves wherein the sealing action has beendone by various sliding motions of compressible members against asubstantially solid member. However, this is not a reliable means bywhich to establish a closely defined cycling operation based upon theaxial positions of a stem carrying laterally and axially extendinglands. Quite to the contrary. This is such a limitation that this classof valve has not heretofore been salable at a favorable price in view ofthe maintenance which would be expected.

In the device of this invention, both the selector member and thelip-seals are preferably made of the same material, the preferredmaterial being a stiffiy flexible plastic material such as the acetylcopolymer sold by Celanese Corporation of Clark, New Jersey, under itstrade mark Celcon M-90. Suitable plastic materials such as this one havethe property of a substantial elongation within their elastic limits andalso a low coefficient of friction, especially when wet.

In a valve in which the first and second lands have a diameter on theorder of 1.000 inches, the surface on the lip-seals may expeditiously beon the order of this diameter less between about 0.002 and 0.010 inches,whereby to form an interference fit which is well within the capacity ofthe material to be expanded and deflected so as to maintain a smoothscraping effect between the lip-seal and the land so as to make theappropriate seal. The seal is tight, and is kept clean. When theupstream pressure faces the frusto-conical web in such a manner as toforce the web toward the land, then the seal will be even more reliable.In the event that the differential pressure is reversed, still thismakes fora reliable sealing action because, especially for lowpressures, the restorative forces of the material of the web will tendto maintain the seal closed. Of greater importance is the fact that thelands can enter the lip-seals from either direction (notice for exampleland in FIGS. 6, 7, and 8). The valve is thereby truly bi-directional inmechanical function.

Preferably the land and the lip-seal will be made of the identicalmaterial and they will also be made of plastic materials, whose wetcoefficient of friction is low, and which is self-lubricating. Byself-lubricating is meant that the substance of a material will not gallor otherwise attract itself with it is drawn against the like material,so as to avoid the stick-slip effect, and gouging of the material. Suchdisadvantages would be found when materials such as lead are used. Inthe example given, the plastic material is self-lubricating, meaningthat it has no tendency to adhere to itself, and that two contiguoussurfaces will readily free themselves from adherence to each other.

This invention thereby provides a five-cycle valve wherein the devicecan operate to provide a cycling system of a class which is well-knownin the prior art, but which valve can readily be manufactured by the useof simple molding operations. It is intuitively obvious that thelip-seal constructions shown in this invention can be made by simple andstraight forward molding operations and that the device can thereforeprovide sophisticated functions, but with moderate costs andexpenditures both in tooling and assembly costs in manufacturing thevalve and system.

This invention is not to be limited by the embodiment shown in thedrawings and described in the description which is given by way ofexample and not of limitation, but only in accordance with the scope ofthe appended claims.

We claim:

1. A cycling valve for a water treatment system in which system there isincluded a water supply line, a service line, a drain line, aregenerator tank, an ejector connected to the regenerator tank, and atreatment tank, the treatment tank having a top opening and a bottomopening, said cycling valve comprising: a body having a primary bore, asecondary bore, and a shaft passage, each having an axis and beingcoaxial with the others, a supply port through the body to the primarybore for connection to the water supply line, a service port through thebody to the primary bore for connection to the service line, a treatmentport through the body to the primary bore for connection to the topopening, an ejector port through the body to the primary bore forconnection to the top opening through the ejector a first and a secondreturn port through the body to the primary and secondary borerespectively, connected to the bottom and top opening, respectively, anda drain port through the body to the secondary bore for connection tothe drain line; a first, second, third and fourth axially spaced-apartannular frustoconical lip seal in fluid-sealing connection with the wallof the primary bore, the treatment port opening onto the primary bore onthe side of the first lip seal opposite from the second lip seal, theejector port between the first and second lip seal, the supply portbetween the second and third lip seal, the service port between thethird and fourth lip seal, and the first return port on the side of thefourth lip seal opposite from the third lip seal; a first and a secondaxially spaced-apart peripheral secondary drain seal in the wall of thesecondary bore, the return ports being on opposite sides of the twosecondary drain seals; and a selector member, comprising a shaft makinga fluid-sealing fit in the shaft passage and extending axially into thetwo bores, a first and a second cylindrical land on said shaft andaxially spaced-apart thereon, an axially-extending drain slot formed insaid shaft, the lands being so proportioned and disposed as to cause thefollowing combinations of fluid-sealing contact with respective lipseals in respective axial positions of the selector member:

the drain slot lying entirely in the primary bore in the first position,overlapping the second secondary drain seal in the second position, andoverlapping the first secondary drain seal in the third and fourthpositions,

thereby shutting off the drain port from the both return ports in thefirst position, opening it to the second return port in the secondposition, and opening it to the first return port in the third andfourth positions.

2. A cycling valve according to claim 1 in which the lip seals arestiffly flexible, conical frustums which make an interference fit withthe respective lands.

3. A cycling valve according to claim 2 in which the V frustums areformed as webs.

4. A cycling valve according to claim 1 in which the lip seals and thelands are made of the same material, the material beingself-lubricating.

5. A cycling valve according to claim 1 in which the axial edges of thelands are scalloped, whereby to provide a gradual throttling of a flowchannel past the respective lip seal.

6. A cycling valve according to claim 1 in which a tubular sleeve isfitted between the wall of the primary bore and the lip seals, saidsleeve carrying axially spaced-apart seal means to separate thetreatment port, ejector port, supply port, service port and first returnport, and having perforations between said seal means to provide fluidcommunication from said ports to an internal cylindrical wall in saidsleeve, and in which the lip seals are each comprised of a support ringcarrying an external flexible seal, said support ring being annular andhaving a perforation therethrough, and a frustoconical web taperingaxially and inwardly, said lip seals being stacked inside said sleeve,with the flexible seals in sealing contact with the internal wallthereof, and the perforation in the lip seal in fluid communication witha respective perforation in the sleeve.

7. A cycling valve according to claim 6 in which the lip seals areidentical, and the sleeve is formed with a cylindrical internal wall toreceive the lip seals as a stack.

8. A cycling valve according to claim 6 in which an insert is fittedinto the secondary bore to carry the second secondary drain seal.

9. A valving assembly for a water softener valve comprising: acylindrical land having a diameter and a central axis which is its axisof longitudinal motion, and a lip seal member comprising a one-piecemonolithic peripheral support ring and an axially extendingfrustoconical web having a circular hole therethrough with a diameterless than that of the land, the web being stiffly flexible and havingradially internal and external frustoconical surfaces, an external ringgroove being formed in the support ring in its radially outermostaxially extending surface, and a flexible peripheral seal in saidexternal ring groove, a perforation being formed through said supportring to pass fluid radially through the ring, the land being adapted toenter and close the hole in the web in one position, and to move out ofit in another.

10. A valving assembly according to claim 9 in which the web and theland are made of the same material, the material being self-lubricating.

11. A valving assembly according to claim 9 further including a sleevehaving a cylindrical internal wall with a perforation therethrough topass fluid through its wall at a selected axial location, the supportring fitting in fluid sealing relationship therein.

12. A valving assembly according to claim 11 in which a stack ofidentical ones of said lip seal members is disposed in the sleeve.

1. A cycling valve for a water treatment system in which system there isincluded a water supply line, a service line, a drain line, aregenerator tank, an ejector connected to the regenerator tank, and atreatment tank, the treatment tank having a top opening and a bottomopening, said cycling valve comprising: a body having a primary bore, asecondary bore, and a shaft passage, each having an axis and beingcoaxial with the others, a supply port through the body to the primarybore for connection to the water supply line, a service port through thebody to the primary bore for connection to the service line, a treatmentport through the body to the primary bore for connection to the topopening, an ejector port through the body to the primary bore forconnection to the top opening through the ejector a first and a secondreturn port through the body to the primary and secondary borerespectively, connected to the bottom and top opening, respectively, anda drain port through the body to the secondary bore for connection tothe drain line; a first, second, third and fourth axially spaced-apartannular frusto-conical lip seal in fluid-sealing connection with thewall of the primary bore, the treatment port opening onto the primarybore on the side of the first lip seal opposite from the second lipseal, the ejector port between the first and second lip seal, the supplyport between the second and third lip seal, the service port between thethird and fourth lip seal, and the first return port on the side of thefourth lip seal opposite from the third lip seal; a first and a secondaxially spaced-apart peripheral secondary drain seal in the wall of thesecondAry bore, the return ports being on opposite sides of the twosecondary drain seals; and a selector member, comprising a shaft makinga fluid-sealing fit in the shaft passage and extending axially into thetwo bores, a first and a second cylindrical land on said shaft andaxially spaced-apart thereon, an axially-extending drain slot formed insaid shaft, the lands being so proportioned and disposed as to cause thefollowing combinations of fluid-sealing contact with respective lipseals in respective axial positions of the selector member: Lip Lip LipLip Position Seal 1 Seal 2 Seal 3 Seal 4 1 open open closed by opensecond land 2 open closed by open open first land 3 closed by open openclosed by first second land land 4 open open open closed by second landthe drain slot lying entirely in the primary bore in the first position,overlapping the second secondary drain seal in the second position, andoverlapping the first secondary drain seal in the third and fourthpositions, thereby shutting off the drain port from the both returnports in the first position, opening it to the second return port in thesecond position, and opening it to the first return port in the thirdand fourth positions.
 2. A cycling valve according to claim 1 in whichthe lip seals are stiffly flexible, conical frustums which make aninterference fit with the respective lands.
 3. A cycling valve accordingto claim 2 in which the frustums are formed as webs.
 4. A cycling valveaccording to claim 1 in which the lip seals and the lands are made ofthe same material, the material being self-lubricating.
 5. A cyclingvalve according to claim 1 in which the axial edges of the lands arescalloped, whereby to provide a gradual throttling of a flow channelpast the respective lip seal.
 6. A cycling valve according to claim 1 inwhich a tubular sleeve is fitted between the wall of the primary boreand the lip seals, said sleeve carrying axially spaced-apart seal meansto separate the treatment port, ejector port, supply port, service portand first return port, and having perforations between said seal meansto provide fluid communication from said ports to an internalcylindrical wall in said sleeve, and in which the lip seals are eachcomprised of a support ring carrying an external flexible seal, saidsupport ring being annular and having a perforation therethrough, and afrusto-conical web tapering axially and inwardly, said lip seals beingstacked inside said sleeve, with the flexible seals in sealing contactwith the internal wall thereof, and the perforation in the lip seal influid communication with a respective perforation in the sleeve.
 7. Acycling valve according to claim 6 in which the lip seals are identical,and the sleeve is formed with a cylindrical internal wall to receive thelip seals as a stack.
 8. A cycling valve according to claim 6 in whichan insert is fitted into the secondary bore to carry the secondsecondary drain seal.
 9. A valving assembly for a water softener valvecomprising: a cylindrical land having a diameter and a central axiswhich is its axis of longitudinal motion, and a lip seal membercomprising a one-piece monolithic peripheral support ring and an axiallyextending frusto-conical web having a circular hole therethrough with adiameter less than that of the land, the web being stiffly flexible andhaving radially internal and external frusto-conical surfaces, anexternal ring groove being formed in the support ring in its radiallyoutermost axially extending surface, and a flexible peripheral seal insaid external ring groove, a perforation being formed through saidsupport ring to pass fluid radially through the ring, the land beingadapted to enter and close the hole in the web in one position, and tomove out of it in another.
 10. A valving assembly according to claim 9in which the web and the land are made of the same material, thematerial being self-lubricating.
 11. A valving assembly according toclaim 9 further including a sleeve having a cylindrical internal wallwith a perforation therethrough to pass fluid through its wall at aselected axial location, the support ring fitting in fluid sealingrelationship therein.
 12. A valving assembly according to claim 11 inwhich a stack of identical ones of said lip seal members is disposed inthe sleeve.
 13. A valving assembly according to claim 12 in which aplurality of said lands is formed on a shaft for axial reciprocationrelative to the webs and for engagement with them in variouscombinations.
 14. A valving assembly according to claim 13 in which thewebs and the lands are made of the same material, the material beingself-lubricating.